Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
polarization
Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics
Images & Videos
Diagram showing unpolarized light as intersecting waves approaching a circular polarizing filter. After passing through the filter, only light waves aligned with the filter's orientation emerge as polarized light, with reduced intensity. Diagram illustrating Brewster's law, showing a ray of incident, ordinary light striking a surface at angle p, with reflected polarized light at a 90-degree angle to refracted, partially polarized light. Arrows indicate light direction and polarization. Figure 18: Progression of elliptically polarized wave (see text). Figure 5: Malus' experiment. Successive reflections at two unsilvered mirror surfaces, G1 and G2 (see text).
Understand how the polarization of the light from cosmic background radiation influenced the early development of the universe

polarization: References & Edit History

Article Contributors

Primary Contributors

  • The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
    Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.

Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors

Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Add new Web site: University of Iowa Pressbooks - College Physics - Polarization. Oct 16, 2026
Add new Web site: Michigan State University Libraries - Introductory Physics for the Health and Life Sciences II - Polarization. Aug 14, 2026
Add new Web site: Khan Academy - Polarization of light. Apr 03, 2026
Add new Web site: Khan Academy - Polarization of light. Jun 25, 2025
Add new Web site: MIT OpenCourseWare - Polarization (PDF). May 17, 2025
Add new Web site: University of Toronto - Department of Physics - Polarization of Light (PDF). Mar 21, 2025
Add new Web site: Scholars at Harvard - Polarization. Nov 12, 2024
Add new Web site: UNL Content Management System - Electrostatics of Dielectrics. Aug 28, 2024
Add new Web site: OpenStax - University Physics Volume 3 - Polarization. Aug 16, 2024
Add new Web site: VIVA Open Publishing - Analytical Methods in Geosciences - Polarization of Light. May 14, 2024
Add new Web site: BCcampus Open Publishing - Douglas College Physics 1207 - Polarization. Apr 02, 2024
Add new Web site: National Center for Biotechnology Information - Polarization of Light. Nov 10, 2023
Add new Web site: The Physics Classroom - Polarization. Sep 15, 2023
Add new Web site: Physics LibreTexts - Polarization. Dec 23, 2022
Added diagram of a polarizing filter. Jul 17, 2020
Added new Web site: Hyperphysics - Polarization. Apr 30, 2008
Added new Web site: Boston University - Polarization; and The Human Eye. Apr 30, 2008
Added new Web site: WebPhysics - Polarization Exploration. Apr 30, 2008
Added new Web site: The Physics Classroom Tutorial - Polarization. Apr 30, 2008
Article added to new online database. Jul 20, 1998
View Changes:
Article History
Revised:
By: